Cambodian Wedding, Brooklyn, NY, 1984

For the hair-cutting rite, Sam Ath and Savath sit at a table while the shaman circles them, carrying a mirror, lotions, and snapping scissors open and shut, while he sings and tells funny folk tales evoking laughter from everyone except for the anxious bridal pair.

Katrina Thomas's notes: The Cambodians I photographed are newly arrived refugees, having fled the communist Khmer Rouge after the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975. Many came without their families, who had been killed or had remained to guard their properties. In the U.S. Khmer weddings usually take place on a single day. I photographed four, three on a single day, one lasting two days. All are abbreviated when compared to those in the home country. With little guidance, they try to keep traditions for a proper celebration but without their native substances or their own foods. Rather than falling in love, all the couples were matched by others and most weddings are conducted by their own people without the licenses to do so legally but able to marry them in the eyes of their own community.